Author: Lisbeth
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Read more: Chicken Soup for the Socially Inept: Flirting for Magicians
It may seem crass for a lesbian to give dating advice on a magic blog, especially when the nature of this place means I can’t prove myself as an expert. But, to assert myself for a moment, I’m a very good flirt. I’ve spent many a night going to a bar or a club, finding…
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On Weight and Touch
Category: tipsRead more: On Weight and TouchOn page 13 of desTROYers, Joshua Jay wrote something that completely changed how I perform (I know, I think it’s strange that he’d say something insightful too!). In a section within the chapter “Commentary” labeled “…Troy Touch” he describes Troy Hooser’s technique this way: “The first noticeable difference in Troy’s work is his unique touch.…
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Read more: I Hate “In & Of Itself”
And it’s not for the weird stolen valor of the brick. Nor the strange exploitation of having someone read a surprise intimate letter on stage. Nor is it for the fact DelGaudio’s voice sounds like he’s a Muppet about to cry the whole show. No, I don’t really hate the special: I hate us. In…
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Hanging for Later
Category: presentationRead more: Hanging for LaterI’m admittedly not much of a restaurant worker (I’ve done it a couple times, and it went… fine? I’m much better on stage), however I’ve shared this idea with a few experienced restaurant magicians and they seemed to like it, so y’all get to have it. I love incidental magic. The kind of magic that…
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Hey, Doxxing Isn’t Cool, Actually
Category: commentaryRead more: Hey, Doxxing Isn’t Cool, ActuallyIn case anyone hasn’t seen it, a few days ago, Mishaal Khan posted a video exposing the true identity of (or doxxing) “The Mask Magic,” a content creator who’s made his name exposing magic tricks to his audience on various social platforms. To be clear, I’m not stating that I’m in favor of The Mask…
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The “Creativity” Discourse
Category: essayRead more: The “Creativity” DiscourseEditor’s note: This isn’t about saying “fuck beginners”; rather it’s about saying “stop pretending intermediate and advanced magicians can only handle beginner talk.” So if you’re on page one of your magic journey, relax: this is about how bad we are at page ten and onward. I’m the kind of magician that most would call…
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Recent Posts
- John Raven Stacks the Deck
- Chicken Soup for the Socially Inept: Flirting for Magicians
- The Off by One Principle (Not That One)
- A Hot Rod in My Drunken Fist
- Shuffling for Virtual Audiences: Free, Fair, and Fully Fraudulent
- The Theatre Behind the Fold
- On Weight and Touch
- Chicken Soup for the Socially Inept: Narrative Ease
- Justifying the Vanishing Deck’s Leftover Joker
- I Hate “In & Of Itself”
- Rich Man’s Which Hand
- Hanging for Later
- Stop Shtooping Steve Sheraton (or, A Joyful $1)
- Hey, Doxxing Isn’t Cool, Actually
- Get Rid of the Get-Ready
- An Actual Hello From the New Girl
- The “Creativity” Discourse
- Commenting Works Again!
- The Glossary, or ‘We cannot eliminate the root causes of codes by magicians, but Oval can.’
- Support the Heck Out of Craig Petty
- Tips for a Bigger Clock
- Clockwork Apple
- Odds and Ends #10: The Perfect 10/10 Trick
- Air Remixed
- Odds and Ends #9… …#9… …#9…
- A Magifest 2026 Retrospective
- The Day The Pedophile (Un)subscribed
- The Transport Peek
- Reader Mail Number Four: Can You Believe There’s Even More?
- I Spent 25 Dollars, and All We Got Was This Lousy Comment
- The Extreme Workout Universal Presentation
- New Year’s Comments and 2026 Plans
- Franklin Assumes Dominion Over All (Things Oval) In 2026
- A Color Coded, Tailor Fitted Effect
- Let’s Move False Shuffles Out of the Grey
- The Berglas Effect That Got Away
- The Loaded Lightning Principle
- How We Generate The Best Anagrams Around
- Making Your Anagrams Commute
- Toward Better Progressive Anagrams
- Announcing Anagram August (And Presenting A Trainer)
- 21 Savant (Degaffing Petty and Barnes)
- Bits and Bobs #2: The SUMS Out
- Let’s Talk to Invisible People
- In Defense of Lecture Patter
- My Cheap Uncle: A Bank Night Presentation
- Further Notes on Halal Magic
- Phantom at the Magic Festival
- Halal Magic
- Bits and Bobs #1: On Realism and Reality
- Spaced Out Tarot
- Reassembling the Woman Sawed in Half
- Last Minute Thoughts on Blackpool
- How To Spend Your Time At A Magic Convention
- Odds and Ends #8: The Burgle Ass Effect
- Notes on the Number Forcing Stack
- New Year, New E-Mail
- The James Hydrick Presentation, or Amateur Telekinesis
- Bricking Around with Drew Perry’s “Bricked”
- Holiday Hiatus and Schedule Scuttling
- Conducting Trains and Bones
- Excessive Errata, Non-Jerry Edition
- Zen and the Art of EmotiPsychic Maintenance
- Constructing Your Own Matrix Force
- Cut Your Nails
- Decoding the Matrix Multi-Force
- The Magic Oval 101
- The Annual Company Picnic (In Lieu of Bonuses) Part 1
- Odds and Ends #7: The One About Asian Competitions
- The Poor Man’s WikiTest Approach
- A Review of Michael Kras’s Synthesis & Secrets
- Meeting of the Masterminds
- To Put Too Fine a Point on It
- The Zen of Magic: Avoiding Method Overloading
- Double Blind Control, or Move Them With Your Mouth
- Memorability: A Misguided Proxy Metric
- I Was Wrong About Memorability in Card Magic
- Mnemonic Possession: The Arc of History Bends Towards Oblivion
- Spectators as Mirrors
- No One Is Keeping Your Souvenirs
- Odds and Ends #6: Electric Boogie Licks
- History in Flames: Why Magic Needs Public Museums Now
- Reader Mail #4: The Benefits of Not Using the Same Decks
- The Stripper Fakes A Breather
- Prisoners Passing the Pat Downs
- Banachek’s Salad: Eggplant Is the New Broccoli
- Taking a Peek to the Cinemas
- In Memoriam of Katakura Yuichi, a Japanese Underground Legend
- Thinking Through Methods, Pt. 2
- Thinking Through Methods, Pt. 1
- Oops, Private Post Fixed, and An Unscheduled Update
- “Sorry, I Have To Ditch This”
- Why Do People Hate Crazy Sam’s Mind?
- Magic Mirror on the Wall, Who Has the Fairest Dribble of All?
- Curse You, Andy
- Easter Errata, and a Schedule Shift
- The Forbidden Library: A Prelude
- The Chinese Knockoff: A Presentation For Obvious Gimmicks and Other Things
- Sharing A Thank You
- Monkey Business